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Exciting Times for the Liaden Universe®

The Liaden Universe® didn’t start out as a Universe; it started out as one book. That book, a quirky little space opera called Agent of Change, was published by Del Rey as a paperback original, in February, 1988.

That would be, let’s see…

Twenty-five years ago, this February.

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Holy bananas.

You’d think that having a Silver Anniversary to celebrate in 2013 would be excitement enough for any pair of authors — but you’d be wrong.

Not only is February 2013 the Silver Anniversary of the Liaden Universe®, the sixteenth novel in the Universe, Necessity’s Child will be released on February 5, in hardcover, signed hardcover, ebook, and audiobook!

Also? Every single Liaden Universe® novel ever written is — at this very instant! — in print, as omnibus, hardcover, trade paper, mass market, ebook, and/or audiobook editions!

Having survived as writers for twenty-five years is an achievement by itself. To have all of our novels in print during that twenty-fifth year is. . .amazing. And humbling.

For those who are planning to attend Boskone, we’ll be hosting a dual Silver Anniversary/Book Launch party there. We’re also mulling over some web celebrations, because really — you’re only in print twenty-five years once.

Ahem.

Lucky 2013 will also bring to you the first Liaden Universe® Constellation — a collection of seventeen short stories. That will be available in trade paperback, and ebook editions, in July. The second Constellation will be along in January 2014.

This year will also see the mass market release of Dragon Ship, already available in hardcover, signed hardcover, ebook, and audio.

While you’re reading, we’ll be writing, not just because that’s, yanno, what we do, but because we have a contract.

That should, actually, be…

A Contract.

A contract, with Baen Books, for five Liaden Universe® novels, which together will comprise the sequel to Dragon Ship.

* * *

To recap, here’s the 2013/2014 publication schedule as presently known:

…please be aware that the above are turn-in dates; the publisher sets the publication dates and they are, therefore, A Mystery. One thing that we can say definitively is that the publisher will not publish any of the above novels before they’ve been turned in.

Glad to see your continued success with Baen. I haven’t seen any mention recently of Steve’s project to craft a sequel to Balance of Trade. I think this “side book” is one of your best because it is such a good introduction for us Terrans to the customs of Liad. I’ve been long hoping for a book about Jethri’s progress as a Terran trader to the worlds of Liad, to better understand the relationship between the cultures. The Waitley books have been good in this respect, but Jethri’s pioneer status in Liad-Terran relations would help round out the earlier period of the history of the Liaden universe. On another tack, when I think of Balance of Trade, I remember Anne McCaffrey’s plea to you to send some of the parts you had to leave out of the early books because of space concerns. Jethri’s tale was 464 pages. The Waitley books have been in the 300s. I think they would have been even better if they had been longer.

Congratulations on your anniversary! Fantastic news about the new books, love your Liaden series, I met Shan and Priscilla first (my favourites! and Partners in necessity is my comfort book!), and then went on to meet the rest of the family. Love Theo and her stories. Can’t wait for the next book.

I have moved far too often, and in so doing, have misplaced far too many of my favorite books. I have high hopes that my recent acquisition of a Kindle Fire will remedy this situation. Since you folk have written by far the majority of my favorite books, I must respectfully and humbly request your assistance in assembling electronically, all that the Lee and Miller team have written, both together and separately. A list would be most helpful. Actual links would be fantastic.

Well…it’s not hard to go to the Kindle store and type in “lee and miller” or “Liaden”. You should get a couple pages of stuff to download, including eChapbooks and all novels through Necessity’s Child.

I am *delighted* about all the new/upcoming books! I went through a recent period of re-reading everything that’s already out, and I noticed what seemed to be to be a similarity of culture between the Bedel and the Bindalche; I also noticed that Bechimo uses small spider-like remotes. I’m wondering if there’s a connection between the universes of Liad and the Tomorrow Log; I’m also wondering if the Bindalche and the Bedel are both based on a common inspiring culture/ancestor-culture, and what that culture might be. The glimpses we have of them are fascinating!